In a release today, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and the Entertainment Software Association announced this year’s winning pieces for the 2012 Into the Pixel collection. Among the selected entries was the above image, titled “Regent”, that appears in Dishonored.

Created by Sergey Kolesov and Arkane Studio’s art director, Sebastien Mitton, the piece will be displayed at E3 from June 7-9, 2011 in the Concourse Foyer. Following E3, it will be toured around the globe at other gaming events.

Congrats to Sergey, Sebastien, and the rest of the team at Arkane for this prestigious honor.

Will you be in LA next week? If so, we encourage you to check out Video Games Live on June 6th at the Nokia Theatre. During the concert, music from Skyrim will be performed by a 110-piece symphony & choir.

If you’ve never seen Video Games Live before, it’s definitely worth checking out. Created by Tommy Tallarico in 2002, its an immersive audio and video concert experience celebrating videogames.

The Game Critics Awards have announced their Best of E3 2011 picks, and we were honored to learn the ‘re honored that the voting panel picked The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as a winner in two categories: Best Console Game and Best Role Playing Game.

The Game Critics Awards has announced this year’s Best of E3 nominees, and we’re excited to share news that Prey 2, RAGE, and Skyrim were all nominated.

Skyrim received three nominations, including Best Role Playing Game, Best Console Game, and the overall Best of Show award! Bethesda Game Studios previously won Best RPG for Oblivion (2005) and Fallout 3 (2008). Fallout 3 also won overall Best of Show in 2008.

RAGE is nominated again this year for Best Action Game. The team captured the award last year, as well as awards for Best Console Game and a Special Commendation for Graphics. Previously, id Software won overall Best of Show, Best PC Game, Best Action Game, and Special Commendations for both Graphics and Sound in 2002 for DOOM 3.

Prey 2 also received a nomination for Best Action Game. This is Human Head’s second Game Critics Award nomination (they were nominated for Best PC Game in 2005).

Congrats to Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, and Human Head on getting nominated. Winners will be announced on June 28th.

As we prepare E3 roundups for Prey 2 and Skyrim, here’s more photos from last week’s E3 adventure. This time around we’ve got more from the Figueroa Hotel, interviews, awards, and Snoop Dogg!! That’s right, Snoop made his way to the B Double-O TH to check out RAGE.